The magnetic-recording, hard-disk-drive (HDD) industry is extremely competitive. The demands of the market for ever increasing storage capacity, storage speed, and other enhancement features compounded with the desire for low cost creates tremendous pressure for improved HDDs. Therefore, scientists at the frontiers of magnetic-recording-technology research are driven to improve methods for reducing the cost of manufacturing and are constantly striving to develop new manufacturing tools to effect such cost reductions.
A critical factor affecting the cost of manufacturing is time expended in rework during the manufacturing process. Engineers and scientists engaged in manufacturing research are highly motivated to reduce the time expended in the rework of HDDs, because it goes directly to the profit margin for the product, which can make the difference between success and failure in the marketplace. The challenges of new technologies such as perpendicular-magnetic recording add further complexity to the daunting task of cost reductions. Therefore, the development of methods and tooling by scientists engaged in HDD research that can meet these challenges are crucial to success.